coco ebert:TheBeastOfYuccaFlats: coco ebert: ignatius_crumbcake: coco ebert: The thing is, Huntsman is not really a Lincoln Chafee or Olympia Snowe kind of moderate Republican, he's quite conservative. He's just not completely off the deep end bonkers conservative like most of the candidates this year (i.e. believes in science), so he seemed moderate in comparison.

But he is (compared to the rest of the party, at least) socially moderate. That's the key with the younger demographics. Many of the republican points about the debt and spending and entitlement programs are not wrong. Overblown perhaps, and definitely hypocritical given their position on defense spending, but not wrong. A socially liberal, fiscally conservative candidate would erase the democrats advantage with women and voters under 40. You think voters under 40 aren't receptive to the argument that Social Security needs to be overhauled?

But that person would never have the Evangelical support, hence why the GOP is screwed.

How is he socially moderate? Is he pro-marriage equality or pro-choice? I thought he wasn't.

The mitigating part put in there is "But he is (**compared to the rest of the party, at least**) socially moderate."

Not compared to the electorate that just gave the GOP a spanking, but compared to the rest of his party he's not a rapey-douchey caveman of a social conservative.

Fair enough. But you also argued that that relative moderation would make him more appealing to young voters, and I was trying to point out how that relative moderation masks to a certain degree the quite conservative politics he actually has. It just further shifts to the right our political center. That's all.

also, I would like to point out that he has 3 incredibly hot daughters ^_^

And a lot of us worked with campus organizations to register and drive people to the polls. I live in a deeply red, rural part of Texas, and the looks on the volunteer's faces when cars full of teen/early 20's voters came in was pretty priceless.

/bonus: the majority of them were black or female//not by our design///guess people get offended when you shiat all over them for your campaign platform